Scranton Prep’s Chloe Mamera (32) battles for a rebound with North Pocono’s Anna Clementoni during a Saturday playoff for the Lackawanna League Division 1 girls basketball championship.
Tom Robinson | For Abington Journal
CARBONDALE — Scranton Prep was perfect in the second half of the girls basketball regular season, working its way back from a tough start to earn a shot at yet another Lackawanna League Division 1 championship.
The Classics, however, came up empty in that chance, struggling offensively and losing to North Pocono 38-21 in a playoff for the division title.
Scranton Prep won its last 11 regular-season games and last 10 division games after starting 6-5 and just 2-2 within the division. The turnaround, in which the Classics won every game by at least eight points, put them within one win of a ninth straight division title.
North Pocono matched Scranton Prep at 12-2 at the top of the standings. The Classics avenged early-season road losses to North Pocono and Valley View during home games in the winning streak.
Following a sluggish start in the title game, North Pocono dominated. The Lady Trojans combined a match-up zone defense that clogged the middle on the Classics with the offensive combination of the Clementoni sisters, Anna and Ella.
Anna Clementoni finished with a game-high 18 points. Ella Clementoni scored eight of her nine points in the second quarter, then had five second-half assists, four of which set up baskets by her younger sister.
Chloe Mamera led Scranton Prep with 12 points, but the rest of the Classics managed just four baskets.
Scranton Prep held North Pocono scoreless for more than four minutes to begin the game and scored the first four points.
Shannon Bestrycki opened the second-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer for an 11-7 lead.
The Classics went nearly eight minutes without scoring, during which the Lady Trojans moved in front to stay, and scored just 10 total points the rest of the way.
North Pocono ran off 14 straight points. It had the last 12 points of the half, including Ella Clementoni’s three-point play in the final second.
The Lady Trojans had the first possession of both the third and fourth quarters and needed just 15 and 11 seconds for Ella Clementoni to find Anna Clementoni for baskets from close range.
North Pocono kept the lead in double figures for the entire fourth quarter, limiting Scranton Prep to two points in the last 10 minutes.
After winning the second of three meetings with North Pocono during January, Scranton Prep’s biggest obstacle to forcing the playoffs was back-to-back games in the first week of February.
The Classics avenged the Valley View loss with a 66-52 victory Feb. 3, then won at Abington Heights 46-34 three days later.
Mamera scored 31 points, and Bestrycki hit six 3-pointers while adding 22 points in the win over Valley View.
Ava Fenton had 19 points, and Mamera added 16 against Abington Heights.
Fenton scored 10 points in the first quarter for a 14-12 lead, and the Classics still led just 20-18 at halftime. They outscored the Lady Comets 11-2 in the third, then secured the win by going 7-for-8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter.
Sarah Cantner scored nine points for Abington Heights, and Emma Coleman had eight.
Scranton Prep then defeated West Scranton 69-31 and Wallenpaupack 49-22 in the final week of the regular season.
The Classics led 29-3 after one quarter and 47-10 at halftime over West Scranton.
Mamera had 12 of her 16 points in the first quarter. Eva Kaszuba added 13 points.
Mamera poured in 30 points against Wallenpaupack.
